Bird flu research: U.S. panel may take another look

Laboratory-engineered strains of H5N1 influenza, also known as bird flu, aren’t as dangerous as some have been led to believe, said a scientist involved in the controversial research Wednesday.

The researcher, virologist Ron Fouchier of the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, has been at the center of an ongoing debate about bird flu research among public health and biodefense officials. He made his comments at the American Society for Microbiology’s Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research meeting, in Washington, D.C.